The bullying of academics follows a pattern of horrendous, Orwellian elimination rituals, often hidden from the public. Despite the anti-bullying policies (often token), bullying is rife across campuses, and the victims (targets) often pay a heavy price.
"Nothing strengthens authority as much as silence." Leonardo da Vinci - "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men [or good women] do nothing." Winston Churchill.

August 23, 2012

I and my friends were
bullied at
Southampton University. We had no intention on competing with
these academics,
these bullies, but their actions have affected the rest of our
lives.

Angela
had a nervous breakdown and never completely recovered. She can work but she’s
wary of academics.
When she’s asked for a transcript since she intended to apply
to graduate
school in US the university provided one that listed courses
that she never
took!

Theresa was told by her MA supervisor that he’d given
her thesis another
academic since 'he needed to increase the number of
publications' since her
thesis was ‘good’. She removed her MA from her CV, never again
worked in that
sub-field, and did a PhD at her undergraduate institution.

Lucy can only work
as a temp since the University refuses to give her a
transcript from her either
undergraduate or graduate degree so that she can apply for
graduate school in
the US, where she now lives, on the grounds that universities
in the UK do not
provide American style transcripts. This statement is untrue
since two British
universities have readily supplied American style transcripts
to Theresa and I.

Lucy was sent a letter about her MA but both the name of the
MA and the courses
listed were different to the ones she’d taken. She objected to
these
differences and she was told that the letter had to suffice.
Lucy cannot apply
to graduate school to retrain with a letter since the
University she applied to
in the US requires a transcript.

Bill left his funded PhD
place in his department
after being falsely accused of many things because he thought
that it was
pointless being paid to be bullied.

August 22, 2012

About 20 bullying victims at one of
Australia's leading universities have attempted or considered suicide,
an inquiry has been told.

One female academic became so traumatised she tried to kill herself
in her campus office, she told the federal parliamentary committee into
workplace bullying.

Microbiologist Dr Michelle Adams later told The Daily Telegraph she swallowed "tablets" in February last year during a long-running campaign to stop bullying at Newcastle University.

"I
am now medically retired and ... under the medical care of both a
psychiatrist and a psychologist," the 46-year-old mother of two said.

Dr
Adams told the inquiry she suffered "almost 10 years of bullying,
harassment and victimisation" after reporting academic misconduct in
2003.

"When one act of bullying involved the theft of ...
tuberculosis from my research laboratory, at least one colleague was of
the opinion that 'things go missing all the time',"she said.

"When I explained I was scared the attacks would escalate to violence I was told I was 'over-reacting'."

In
a letter to NSW and federal MPs, Dr Adams said an anti-bullying group
at the university had collected "evidence about 20 victims of the
bullying have either attempted or considered suicide".

The issues
at Newcastle follow revelations during the inquiry that staff relations
at the University of NSW had become so dysfunctional some employees
spend days "crying in the toilets".

More than two thirds of the
academic and general staff at UNSW say they had been bullied at work and
some claim to have been sexually assaulted. University authorities have been accused of failing to address the issue.

The
anti-bullying group at Newcastle told the inquiry 175 current and
former staff and students had responded to an online survey.

In March this year Dr Adams was awarded more than $60,000 by the Workers Compensation Commission.

The
University of Newcastle last night said it had "worked with Dr Adams
for a number of years ... to determine the factual basis for her
allegations and concerns" but had not been able to put her mind at rest
on any issue she raised.

New Vice-Chancellor Professor Caroline
McMillen said the university was committed to a workplace free from
bullying: "Our staff embrace the code of conduct and I have found they
are deeply committed to equity and excellence."

August 12, 2012

Under the Terms of Reference for this Inquiry:
The prevalence of workplace bullying and the experience of victims; and role of workplace cultures in preventing and responding to bullying I wish to draw to your attention:

•
the entrenched systematic culture of bullying at the University

•
the lack of support from the University following my initial allegation of bullying; and more importantly

•
the enforced punitive punishment regime I experienced following my submission of a formal grievance that attempted to expose bullying within the workplace.

Brief summary of submission:

I experienced 5 years of bullying within my discipline (2000-2005):

•
Constant changing of my work tasks (courses deleted without consultation that resulted in the development of new courses outside of my specialization);

•
Withholding of financial resources allocated to cross-faculty courses that I was responsible for;

•
Overt ostracisation following my support for two post-graduate student whistleblowers that were treated badly by senior staff
Lack of support and punitive punishment following my formal allegation of bullying (2005-2008)

•
Refusal of the University to allow me to return to my academic duties following sick leave for major depression in early 2005 which I claimed had resulted from bullying

•
Placed under restrictive workplace conditions following my objection to the removal of a ‘stop workplace bullying’ poster from my office door

•
Stigmatisation of my mental health injury that I had experienced in early 2005 through an University management enforced three year punishment regime of social, professional and physical isolation on campus; and

•
The development of a discriminatory survey by Human Resources to justify their draconian and punitive punishment and subsequent forced early retirement.

Dear Honourable MPs,

First, I must state that in July 2008 under considerable duress I signed a confidentiality agreement (aligned with a ‘voluntary’ redundancy) stating that I would not discuss my employment with a third person or take legal action against the University. However, I will always regret being complicit in a cover up of malicious workplace behaviour at the University.

Unfortunately, I personally know of too many instances where the complainant and/or whistleblower has been destroyed by a culture that promotes and condones workplace bullying. That the University places higher credibility to traits of malevolence, malice, cowardice and self-protection rather than uphold values of excellence and integrity is shameful and should be exposed...

• Bad Apple Bullies - If you work as a teacher in Queensland, a Bad Apple Bully principal can destroy your health and your career with malicious gossip and secret sticky-notes.

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• Bully Online - Those who can, do. Those who can't, bully. Bully OnLine is the world's leading web site on workplace bullying and related issues which validates the experience of workplace bullying and provides confirmation, reassurance and re-empowerment.

• Suppression of dissent - The general field of "suppression of dissent" includes whistleblowing, free speech, systems of social control and related topics. The purpose of the site is to foster examination of these issues and action against suppression. It is founded on the assumption that openness and dialogue should be fostered to challenge unaccountable power.

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• CAFAS The Council for Academic Freedom and Academic Standards - It is a group dedicated to maintaining standards of integrity and practice in academia, to exposing breaches in those standards and to supporting the victims of those breaches.

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• The Workplace Bullying Institute is the sole United States organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying through public education, help for individuals, employer solutions and legislative advocacy.